Just finished Hyderabad-Pune round trip last night. If you are driving remember this: At Naldurg there is a turn towards Tuljapur. You may accidentally take this wrong turn because there is no sign board. At Solapur, do not enter the city. Take the by pass. You may miss this road too as there is no sign. The by pass is on your right, just before entering city.

Road up to Solapur is breeze. The worst part I saw was between Tembruni (400 km from Hyderbad) and Indupur and beyond towards Pune. About 50 km. The surface is broken all along. That's ok. The danger is crates that you suddenly fall into. At one place I noticed a slab with a width of about 3ft on a culvert missing. Fortunately, the missing piece is near the parapet wall. Unless you are driving close to the shoulder of the road while crossing the culvert, you wouldn't even notice it. Rains have done their bit.

haha and what is this trick?Surprising,probably the rains have done the roads in.I am a regular on the HYD-BOM circuit and I did the route just before the rains on Sep20th and surprisingly found the HYD-Solapur stretch in very good shape after ages,Otherwise the stretch after Homnabad has been bad for ages.Sigh looks like it would take another 5 years now to get it back in shape.I would have to drive on the route next week again,and reading your post,my back is already aching

The trick is simple.
You say 500 bucks and they will fill in 200.
Then when you look at them they will say oh sorry you wanted 500, we will fill 300 now
They will not reset the meter and continue filling from 200 onwards.
The meter reaches 300 after a 100 rupees worth is filled.
They then say. We filled 200 and now we filled 300. Thats your 500.

A little bit of detail on the road conditions.
I left Pune at around 6:30 AM, filled petrol and touched the Highway at 7 AM.

After 80 kms the road started deteriorating.
Pothole lining one side of the road. Makes overtaking a major issue.
This bad stretch continues till Solapur with some good stretches in between.
I crossed Solapur at 12:30 PM.
i.e. about 250 kms in 5.5 hours.
includes a 30 mins break for Poha somewhere near Indapur.

The road improves and there are not many surprises.
An occasional pot hole but no continuous stretch of craters.
I reach home at 4:30 PM.
i.e. about 300 kms in 4 hours.

In the final phase there was a 15 min halt at Hotel Hyderabad House for toilet (clean) and picking some water and tea.

For reference Hyderabad House mentioned earlier in this thread is adjacent to a HP bunk about 20 kms before Homnabad.

I drive at very steady speeds and avoid taking breaks.
After all I have gotten a mileage of almost 18 kmpl.

When I filled petrol in Hyderabad.
Tank full came in 31 Liters with 564.6 kms on the odo.

I did this road last week.Started from Hyderabad 7pm upto Indapur the road is good.After Indapur to Kedgaon really very bad road heavy traffic and I was driving between 2am to 5am probably 100kms it was real back breaking.Reached Pune 6am halted for 1hour.Reached Mumbai 9am.While coming back Started from Mumbai 3pm took Pune bypass crossed shindevadi tunnel and from Khed took the left turn to Sasvad.The road is single road through villages upto Sasvad.Upto jejuri bad road in patches.Jejuri to Baramati toll road excellent.Baramati to Indapur drivable.3hrs drive from Khed to Indapur.Reached Hyderabad 3am.

In the final phase there was a 15 min halt at Hotel Hyderabad House for toilet (clean) and picking some water and tea.

For reference Hyderabad House mentioned earlier in this thread is adjacent to a HP bunk about 20 kms before Homnabad.

Incidentally during my return trip from Goa, we too stopped at this Hyderabad House for breakfast and it was one of the shabbiest we ever had. Idlis were like white stones, Vada was like soggy and oily unrecognizable thing. There was something watery served along with that which faintly looked like sambhar. They were generous to serve a white liquidy paste that tasted like chalkwalk and later i realized it was coconut chutney. However, i agree that toilets where unbielevably clean

Breakfast or any other food should be avoided here at all costs

I agree the roads from Hyderabad to Solapur that i used to love so much is no longer the same. It's riddle with potholes and not enjoyable at all. Rain gods have left their mark there.

just came back from my native, a 300 km drive.
i have faced moon craters.
nh9 between tembhurni and indapur is really in bad condition.
i suggest, don't try nh9 between solapur and pune.
try alternate route that i will post tomorrow.

Hi Ashishpallod you are lucky you travelled between Temburni to Indapur it is only 20kms.From Indapur to about 60kms before Pune it is still worse about 100kms.While coming back from Mumbai I came through Sasvad Baramathi to Indapur the road is better.We stopped at a Dhaba about 12kms before Indapur.The Dhaba guy said the road work will start in a month as it is going to become a toll road from Indapur to Pune.I was really feeling bad for these tourist buses plenty of them negotiating these mooncraters after Indapur to Pune.

Wow there goes my plans of driving HYD-BOM next week.Hey Ashish,looking forward to your alternate route,else I might just do the tatkal way in the RailwaysFlying is out of q,take a look at the fares,they have gone beyond the roof now

The trick is simple.
You say 500 bucks and they will fill in 200.
Then when you look at them they will say oh sorry you wanted 500, we will fill 300 now
They will not reset the meter and continue filling from 200 onwards.
The meter reaches 300 after a 100 rupees worth is filled.
They then say. We filled 200 and now we filled 300. Thats your 500.

On the 1st of October I was driving down from Pune to Hyd. After Hadapsar flyover, rode into the HP bunk on the right. An old attender came to fill my car. When I told him to fill full tank with auto-cut, he enacted a lengthy drama of not being able to fix the nozzle in the diesel inlet of car. He says the inlet is too small for the nozzle to fit! I told him at every other place they are able to do it. Then he was trying to fill it, holding the nozzle in his hand. He stopped after filling just one liter. I told him to stop. As if not heard, he let the diesel flow into the tank. One more liter and then he stopped. I shouted at him. And paid for one liter. A sort of argument ensued. I raised my voice as well as my my fist. Finally he accepted Rs. 36 or so. I just drove off. At the next Indian Oil bunk, again on to your right, the guy simply inserted the nozzle and flicked the auto-cut on. It was that smooth!

Auto-cut is hardly used in any pump(not just HP),not even in the cities,the bug with the auto cut is that if you have driven on a bumpy road and just come in to the bunk,then the chances are that it wouldnt work as the petrol would be rumbling and tumbling all over the place inside th tank and thereby stopping the fuel supply.

The main reason why auto is not used by most of the pump guys is because the new age machines have a mechanism where in once the fuel is full in the car tank whatever excess fuel that flows out from the nozzle into the car tank flows back into the bunk's tank,to avoid spillage & wastage.The intentions of the technology are good but like any other thing,the pump guys use it to their advantage by going manual and not auto as then the consumer ends up spending for the petrol which he/she actually isnt getting but just traversing through the nozzle back to the bunk.So the best option is,never ask them to fill full tank,instead stick to either amount or litre fills.